May 19, 2013
Just thinking, 2 weeks from today we will be traveling west for our third attempt at serving a summer in Yellowstone National Park. Oh how we pray that we get to enjoy this entire summer in Yellowstone working with new friends and having a blast fishing, hiking and just generally enjoying all the beauty of God's creation. If you are viewing this post, may I invite you to pray with us and for us to have a fruitful summer of pleasure and witness for our Lord?
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Third time is charm - Summer 2013
Looks like we're going back to Yellowstone this summer. After spending a great deal of time praying God's direction for us, we received an answer from Him. If you have followed our postings, you know that the 2011 summer stay ended quickly with jobs that were not what we anticipated. In 2012, Bud had a medical issue that required immediate attention so we ended our stay after just 2 weeks. We were disappointed both times and somewhat concerned that maybe God just didn't want us out there. We have prayed about it daily for months now and feel real assurance that we are heading back out west with God's blessing once again in this adventure.
We will be working for Delaware North at the Yellowstone General Stores. Our place of service will be at Tower Falls. We will be Sales Associates and will be living in a dormitory style setting. We will have our own room with our own bathroom. There are only 40 employees at this location, so we should have a lot of new friends in no time. Our dining room, recreation room and laundry facilities are all in that one dorm building. There is a campground at that site and the general store. That's it. It is definately bear country and the wolf packs are not far from us in Lamar Valley. Tower Falls is in the northern part of the YNP about 18 miles from Mammoth Hot Springs. It is a pretty remote area and communcation is not as readily available as in other places, but we can be reached in an emergency through the store. Otherwise we will gmail, facebook, blog and call when we go closer to Mammoth Hot Springs or Canyon Village.
We are so excited. The requirements with this company are a little different although the work is pretty much the same. It is very casual - blue jeans, sneakers and a shirt, jacket and apron they provide. We are counting down the days until we leave. We report to West Yellowstone, Montana on June 6 and WILL (notice the emphasis on WILL) work till September 19. The store at Tower Falls is open from 6/6 - 9/19 - so we are there for the duration.
Please pray for us. All we have ever wanted is to be useful and to serve the Lord. We are prayerful that in this small setting so far away from everything that we can have a positive impact on those we have contact with.
Until June, when the blogging really begins - enjoy your winter and spring and hopefull you'll make plans to come out our way,
We will be working for Delaware North at the Yellowstone General Stores. Our place of service will be at Tower Falls. We will be Sales Associates and will be living in a dormitory style setting. We will have our own room with our own bathroom. There are only 40 employees at this location, so we should have a lot of new friends in no time. Our dining room, recreation room and laundry facilities are all in that one dorm building. There is a campground at that site and the general store. That's it. It is definately bear country and the wolf packs are not far from us in Lamar Valley. Tower Falls is in the northern part of the YNP about 18 miles from Mammoth Hot Springs. It is a pretty remote area and communcation is not as readily available as in other places, but we can be reached in an emergency through the store. Otherwise we will gmail, facebook, blog and call when we go closer to Mammoth Hot Springs or Canyon Village.
We are so excited. The requirements with this company are a little different although the work is pretty much the same. It is very casual - blue jeans, sneakers and a shirt, jacket and apron they provide. We are counting down the days until we leave. We report to West Yellowstone, Montana on June 6 and WILL (notice the emphasis on WILL) work till September 19. The store at Tower Falls is open from 6/6 - 9/19 - so we are there for the duration.
Please pray for us. All we have ever wanted is to be useful and to serve the Lord. We are prayerful that in this small setting so far away from everything that we can have a positive impact on those we have contact with.
Until June, when the blogging really begins - enjoy your winter and spring and hopefull you'll make plans to come out our way,
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Home Once Again, Too Soon.
It is with sadness that I post our return home. It was not because we couldn't or didn't want to stay and we were not fired. :) When we left for Yellowstone, Bud had an exisiting Mandibular Infection from Oral Surgery on April 3. We left with Bud taking a megadose of antibitotics everyday and we went out knowing that follow up care in Jackson, WY would be a necessity after 4 weeks or so. We saw an Oral Surgeon in Jackson who was adamant that we come home for further care and suggested Bud NOT see the Oral Surgeon who had done the original surgery. He called ahead to an Oral Surgeon in Nashville, a colleague from Harvard and made Bud's problem known to him. He saw us immediately on our return home. That Oral Surgeon referred Bud to a specialist at Vanderbilt. As of today, Bud has seen the specialist and had a CT scan. Now we are awaiting a surgical date for the cleaning away of the infection and the dead bone that is floating around in his jaw. His jawbone is very thin and he has had to be ever so careful of what he eats for fear that the jawbone might break. At this time we are not sure if part of his jawbone will need to be removed and replaced with grafting and metal support or not. Hopefully, we will know that for sure before his surgery.
We had a wonderful time in Yellowstone and really wanted to stay our contracted time. We tried to compromise with the Oral Surgeon asking to stay until the end of July, but he was not hopeful that Bud's jaw would last that long. So a week ago today - June 20 - we packed up our belongings and headed home. We had a really good time and hated to leave. We loved out jobs and the people we worked with. We loved meeting so many people from all over the world and sharing our National Treasure - Yellowstone National Park - with them.
As always, we KNOW that God had a plan and a purpose. We are realizing day by day that there are blessings in disappointment and that God is ALWAYS in control. We learned a long time ago that when we say - Have thine own way, Lord - it is best to mean it.
Happy to be back home and glad that we are back where we have close family and friend support.
I may post a few more pictures in the next few days - but there is unpacking to be done at the moment.
We had a wonderful time in Yellowstone and really wanted to stay our contracted time. We tried to compromise with the Oral Surgeon asking to stay until the end of July, but he was not hopeful that Bud's jaw would last that long. So a week ago today - June 20 - we packed up our belongings and headed home. We had a really good time and hated to leave. We loved out jobs and the people we worked with. We loved meeting so many people from all over the world and sharing our National Treasure - Yellowstone National Park - with them.
As always, we KNOW that God had a plan and a purpose. We are realizing day by day that there are blessings in disappointment and that God is ALWAYS in control. We learned a long time ago that when we say - Have thine own way, Lord - it is best to mean it.
Happy to be back home and glad that we are back where we have close family and friend support.
I may post a few more pictures in the next few days - but there is unpacking to be done at the moment.
Monday, June 18, 2012
A Tour of our Place
Bud is working today and I am here in our little place doing laundry and cleaning. It's been a good day. Bud didn't go to work until 1PM and I met him for dinner at 4:45PM. We have learned how to drive to drop him off and pick him up - about a 2 minute drive in a complete circle since every road in the are is one way. It was good to see him. He got his schedule and all but one day matches mine. He is going to try and change a day with someone so we can have the same schedule next week. (Plus if the schedule doesn't change he will work 5 days in a row ----too much!!
The wind has picked up and you can hardly see 1/4 mile ahead of you and it is blowing everything, everywhere. Our car is a tan color now with all the dust in the air. Now all we need is a rain and we're talking "mud pies".
Not a lot to say today but I am posting some pictures of our room.
This is the entrance into our room We hang our jackets on the back of the door. That is our laundry hamper with a wooden top. It serves also as our coffee station.
This is our little bathroom. To the right inside the door is the sink and to the left is the tub. You can see the first part of the three part unit that houses some of our drawers for clothing. The shelves come in handy too for towels, etc. We hung our mugs up and have a family picture on the shelf.
This is the three piece unit that has the shelves, a small desk for our computer and my wardrobe. Inside there is ample room for hanging things and two drawers in the bottom.
The wind has picked up and you can hardly see 1/4 mile ahead of you and it is blowing everything, everywhere. Our car is a tan color now with all the dust in the air. Now all we need is a rain and we're talking "mud pies".
Not a lot to say today but I am posting some pictures of our room.
This is our little bathroom. To the right inside the door is the sink and to the left is the tub. You can see the first part of the three part unit that houses some of our drawers for clothing. The shelves come in handy too for towels, etc. We hung our mugs up and have a family picture on the shelf.
This is the three piece unit that has the shelves, a small desk for our computer and my wardrobe. Inside there is ample room for hanging things and two drawers in the bottom.
This is Bud's bed. It sits directly in front of the three piece unit. His is a full size bed and is pretty comfortable. He has a night stand and we purchased the lamp so he could read at night.
This is my bed. It is twin size and sleeps good. The mirror is on the door side of the room. That is Bud's wardrobe. It is just like the other one. We use the tops of both wardrobes to put our storage containers.
This is the area between our beds. That is Bud's wardrobe and THAT is our fishing rug from home. It sort of makes the room a little more cozy - at least, we think so.
So that is the grand tour of our room. We like it. It is very quiet. Other than cars in the driveway between buildings and the occasional water running or quiet conversation in the hall, we hardly ever hear a thing. Rather nice, really.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sunday In Yellowstone
Today is Father's day. After our breakfast in the EDR (empolyee dining room) we drove over to Old Faithful Inn for a church service. It was sweet and we enjoyed the music and the three young ladies that held the service and spoke breifly on John 15:4. The service was held on the veranda of Old Faithful Inn - outside with Old Faithful in our background. It went off while we were singing "This is My Father's World". The service was very sweet.
Bud enjoyed hearing from Greg and Jill today. I would say that made his day. Father's Day wishes are always welcomed. Today he works from 1-9PM and he works those hours tomorrow as well. He will work 4 days in a row, Lord willing. Tuesday and Wednesday from 7:30-3PM.
I work this afternoon from 2:30-10PM. That is closing time, but then there are jobs to be done - sweeping, dusting and restocking. Bud will meet me and drive us back to our room. Even though it doesn't get dark until 9:30PM out here, but 10 or so it is pretty scary walking to our dorm, even with our flash light. There is a crazy cow elk (we've named her Crazy Lula) and there are bear in our area.
I am off tomorrow and will do laundry and clean our room - that should take less than an hour. Probably will read and rest and catch up on correspondence.
We've been told that this week will start the real busy season and we are still learning so much. I pray we can keep up and gain a great deal of stamina and be able to do the job well.
Even though the hours are a little long and we never sit - we are praying that we can complete the contract that we agreed to. When we get a little tired we just get in the car, take a little drive and see the wonders of the park and then we are good for another little while.
An awesome sight like this makes it all worthwhile.
Bud enjoyed hearing from Greg and Jill today. I would say that made his day. Father's Day wishes are always welcomed. Today he works from 1-9PM and he works those hours tomorrow as well. He will work 4 days in a row, Lord willing. Tuesday and Wednesday from 7:30-3PM.
I work this afternoon from 2:30-10PM. That is closing time, but then there are jobs to be done - sweeping, dusting and restocking. Bud will meet me and drive us back to our room. Even though it doesn't get dark until 9:30PM out here, but 10 or so it is pretty scary walking to our dorm, even with our flash light. There is a crazy cow elk (we've named her Crazy Lula) and there are bear in our area.
I am off tomorrow and will do laundry and clean our room - that should take less than an hour. Probably will read and rest and catch up on correspondence.
We've been told that this week will start the real busy season and we are still learning so much. I pray we can keep up and gain a great deal of stamina and be able to do the job well.
Even though the hours are a little long and we never sit - we are praying that we can complete the contract that we agreed to. When we get a little tired we just get in the car, take a little drive and see the wonders of the park and then we are good for another little while.
An awesome sight like this makes it all worthwhile.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Another year passes
Friday - June 15, 2012
This morning I was wished an early happy birthday in song by Bud. He had the day all planned out and it was the best birthday I can remember in a while. We left our room around 6:30 AM to drive to the Jackson Lake Lodge where I was treated to a beautiful buffet breakfast. That in and of it's self is wonderful, but to be seated by a window that looks out to the Grand Teton Mountains - well, that was spectacular!!
We drove on into Jackson where we kept our appointment with the Oral Surgeon. He is a great doctor and we were impressed. He is very thorough and will continue to follow Bud over the next few weeks as he heals. Our new favorite place to shop has become K-Mart. It is the only discount store in the immediate area. There is a WalMart in Bozeman, but that is really quite a drive to get the little necessities we need from time to time. Besides that, I don't think they have a Bubba's there.
We walked around town looking at all the beautiful pottery, paintings, furs and leather goods. Bud got a new belt - Happy Father's Day!! and then we had lunch at Bubba's. Now for those who don't know, Bubba's is a fantastic Bar B Q restaurant out here - sort of synonymous with Jackson Hole. We had a nice sandwich and the waitress brought us a big piece of Chess Pie to share for my birthday. Very Nice!!
By the time we got home and after eating what we felt like had been all day - we settled on our full bed with fruit in hand to watch one of our favorite movies - A Southern Yankee with Red Skelton on the laptop. ( Greg just rolled his eyes I know:)!!
Saturday - June 16, 2012
We are off from work again today and weighed out what we really wanted to do. There is Pow Wow Day in Cody or there is fishing near West Yellowstone. You guessed it - fishing near West Yellowstone. The drive over was really pretty. It is amazing how outstanding the geysers are on a cold morning (30 degrees) We had West Yellowstone almost completely to ourselves when we arrived. Tourist season officially starts next week. After about an hour things picked up, but we enjoyed going in and out of all the stores. We noticed that many of the shops has closed down and had been replaced by new restaurants - really a needful thing there. Bud hit all the Fly fishing stores and I "shopped" in my head for the first pay check we receive - Look out West Yellowstone!!! After lunch and a shared cup of Huckleberry ice cream we started looking for a nice stream to fish. The winds had picked up quite a bit and were gusting pretty briskly. Bud didn't think it was a good idea to try and fight the wind to fish so we took a leisurely trip back to our room stopping from time to time to check out potential fishing spots for fishing in days to come.
Will try to download a few pictures. Still having difficulty. I don't know if it's me or the computer or Google but here goes----------
.
This is an RV that was looking one way and drifted another way and ended off the side of the road very near Old Faithful. We sat for about 20 minutes waiting for the tow truck to start moving it.
.You may ask "Where do the Bison walk?" Very simply put - Anywhere they want too!!
.
This morning I was wished an early happy birthday in song by Bud. He had the day all planned out and it was the best birthday I can remember in a while. We left our room around 6:30 AM to drive to the Jackson Lake Lodge where I was treated to a beautiful buffet breakfast. That in and of it's self is wonderful, but to be seated by a window that looks out to the Grand Teton Mountains - well, that was spectacular!!
We drove on into Jackson where we kept our appointment with the Oral Surgeon. He is a great doctor and we were impressed. He is very thorough and will continue to follow Bud over the next few weeks as he heals. Our new favorite place to shop has become K-Mart. It is the only discount store in the immediate area. There is a WalMart in Bozeman, but that is really quite a drive to get the little necessities we need from time to time. Besides that, I don't think they have a Bubba's there.
We walked around town looking at all the beautiful pottery, paintings, furs and leather goods. Bud got a new belt - Happy Father's Day!! and then we had lunch at Bubba's. Now for those who don't know, Bubba's is a fantastic Bar B Q restaurant out here - sort of synonymous with Jackson Hole. We had a nice sandwich and the waitress brought us a big piece of Chess Pie to share for my birthday. Very Nice!!
By the time we got home and after eating what we felt like had been all day - we settled on our full bed with fruit in hand to watch one of our favorite movies - A Southern Yankee with Red Skelton on the laptop. ( Greg just rolled his eyes I know:)!!
Saturday - June 16, 2012
We are off from work again today and weighed out what we really wanted to do. There is Pow Wow Day in Cody or there is fishing near West Yellowstone. You guessed it - fishing near West Yellowstone. The drive over was really pretty. It is amazing how outstanding the geysers are on a cold morning (30 degrees) We had West Yellowstone almost completely to ourselves when we arrived. Tourist season officially starts next week. After about an hour things picked up, but we enjoyed going in and out of all the stores. We noticed that many of the shops has closed down and had been replaced by new restaurants - really a needful thing there. Bud hit all the Fly fishing stores and I "shopped" in my head for the first pay check we receive - Look out West Yellowstone!!! After lunch and a shared cup of Huckleberry ice cream we started looking for a nice stream to fish. The winds had picked up quite a bit and were gusting pretty briskly. Bud didn't think it was a good idea to try and fight the wind to fish so we took a leisurely trip back to our room stopping from time to time to check out potential fishing spots for fishing in days to come.
Will try to download a few pictures. Still having difficulty. I don't know if it's me or the computer or Google but here goes----------
This is an RV that was looking one way and drifted another way and ended off the side of the road very near Old Faithful. We sat for about 20 minutes waiting for the tow truck to start moving it.
This is one of the fumaroles near Old Faithful. In the coldness of the morning, they all stand out much more clearly
This fellow is one mean looking dude!! After this picture was taken he decided to run a little. There were three motorcycles and the sound of their motors seemed to be irritating to him.
This is a sight we have seen all over the park. Herds of Bison with their new calves. They are so sweet looking and the mom's are so protective.
We are meeting so many new people. We have made friends with a couple of the ladies that Bud works with and with a few of the Security guard. This really is a nice place to work. We ae praying the Lord will allow us to finish our contract time here.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Dealing with Inconveniences
The most frustrating thing so far for me has been the internet service. It is so slow. And then there is the fact that the format for blogging has changed and loading a picture takes up to 20 minutes at times. AARRGG!! So with my complaintes out of the way I will attempt to procedd.
Bud did not have a password again Monday when he went in to work, so they had him make up a password. He worked with some really nice, knowledgeable people and I think he is catching on better than he thinks he is. He admits he is still a little intimidated with the computer, but I assure him that he can't hurt anything or close down the system. He has a great personality and I know he is a great asset to the Lodge Gift shop. He is working again today from 1-9PM.
I did our laundry on Monday and met a lot of our neighbors here in the building. It is a varied group of folks. We've met some great kids in Campus ministry and we met a Xanterra Executive that lives in Bozeman who is a retired pastor. He comes to Old Faithful on Sunday with his wife and they supervise another ministry that allows young men who have been called as ministers to practice preach while here in the park. He is a really nice man and we hope to join in on one of the 4 services they have on Sunday. The rest of the afternoon I spent reading and waiting for Bud to come back to the room.
In the late afternoon we took a nice ride to the Firehole River area. We went down a marked road looking for the Firehole Lake. It was sort of a phantom lake with a few small geyser. Took some pictures and hope to download them. On our way back we ran into a "bison jam". There was a herd of bison- about 75-100 of them - just slowly walking down the very middle of the road. They had the traffic stopped in both directions. There were two Rangers trying to "motivate" the bison to get to one side and when they were successful the oncoming traffice would move so slow taking pictures that the bison would migrate back over to where they had just left. We felt sorry for the Rangers. I think the Bison were more cooperative than the people (and I think in some cases they are smarter!!!)
Yesterday we had the same day off and slept in. It felt good not to get right up and get to moving. We have our coffee maker in the room, so we drank coffee, planned the day and had our devotions. We drove toward Fishing Bridge, went into the Visitors Center there and really enjoyed the "aquatic" displays. We rejoined the Yellowstone Association and ate lunch at the Yellowstone Store lunch counter. Boy did that bring back memories of times passed. We remembered our trip out here the year Greg and James came with us - the special was some sort of burrito. We finally had to ban James from the burritos. He had the option of leaving them out of his diet or sleeping outside - if you get my drift. Funny memories. We also remember the time the family joined us out here and how we bought the Souvenir glasses so our drink purchases wouldn't be so much. Everyone keeping up with their own glasses was a chore. We have some really good memories of that visit and wish we could do it all over again - this time with Selah Faith.
I work this afternoon from 2:30-closing (around 10-10:15PM). Then I have the privilege to open the store at 7AM. That's a crazy schedule - hopefully, we can change that for the future. Bud works from 9-5PM tomorrow. Friday we have an appointment with the Oral Surgeon in Jackson and we aren't real sure what our schedule is after that.
This is the Nez Perz River. It is so pretty. Lots of bears are in this area. They love the accessibility to the stream/fish. Sorry you have to look side ways - I'm still learning a lot about downloading pictures.
This is the Firehole Lake with one of the small geysers that spews all the time.
Bud did not have a password again Monday when he went in to work, so they had him make up a password. He worked with some really nice, knowledgeable people and I think he is catching on better than he thinks he is. He admits he is still a little intimidated with the computer, but I assure him that he can't hurt anything or close down the system. He has a great personality and I know he is a great asset to the Lodge Gift shop. He is working again today from 1-9PM.
I did our laundry on Monday and met a lot of our neighbors here in the building. It is a varied group of folks. We've met some great kids in Campus ministry and we met a Xanterra Executive that lives in Bozeman who is a retired pastor. He comes to Old Faithful on Sunday with his wife and they supervise another ministry that allows young men who have been called as ministers to practice preach while here in the park. He is a really nice man and we hope to join in on one of the 4 services they have on Sunday. The rest of the afternoon I spent reading and waiting for Bud to come back to the room.
In the late afternoon we took a nice ride to the Firehole River area. We went down a marked road looking for the Firehole Lake. It was sort of a phantom lake with a few small geyser. Took some pictures and hope to download them. On our way back we ran into a "bison jam". There was a herd of bison- about 75-100 of them - just slowly walking down the very middle of the road. They had the traffic stopped in both directions. There were two Rangers trying to "motivate" the bison to get to one side and when they were successful the oncoming traffice would move so slow taking pictures that the bison would migrate back over to where they had just left. We felt sorry for the Rangers. I think the Bison were more cooperative than the people (and I think in some cases they are smarter!!!)
Yesterday we had the same day off and slept in. It felt good not to get right up and get to moving. We have our coffee maker in the room, so we drank coffee, planned the day and had our devotions. We drove toward Fishing Bridge, went into the Visitors Center there and really enjoyed the "aquatic" displays. We rejoined the Yellowstone Association and ate lunch at the Yellowstone Store lunch counter. Boy did that bring back memories of times passed. We remembered our trip out here the year Greg and James came with us - the special was some sort of burrito. We finally had to ban James from the burritos. He had the option of leaving them out of his diet or sleeping outside - if you get my drift. Funny memories. We also remember the time the family joined us out here and how we bought the Souvenir glasses so our drink purchases wouldn't be so much. Everyone keeping up with their own glasses was a chore. We have some really good memories of that visit and wish we could do it all over again - this time with Selah Faith.
I work this afternoon from 2:30-closing (around 10-10:15PM). Then I have the privilege to open the store at 7AM. That's a crazy schedule - hopefully, we can change that for the future. Bud works from 9-5PM tomorrow. Friday we have an appointment with the Oral Surgeon in Jackson and we aren't real sure what our schedule is after that.
This is the Firehole Lake with one of the small geysers that spews all the time.
This is the beginning of the bison Jam.
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